Airlines association set to rebrand

Air Transport Association CEO Nick Calio is piloting the airline lobby through a complete overhaul.

Less than a year into his tenure, Calio is set to unveil Wednesday a new name for the industry trade group: Airlines for America — We Connect the World. That’s A4A for short — and the new name will be accompanied by a new logo. But the rebranding, often a monumental task with internal association politics, is just cosmetic compared to the other changes he is leading.

Text Size

POLITICO 44

Delta CEO Richard Anderson, who chairs the trade group’s board, said the reorganization is commensurate with an industry that has undergone major changes over the last three decades.

“The trade association had not really been touched since deregulation. We had a number of antiquated governance provisions, antiquated dues structure,” Anderson said.

“The organization was not funded or governed in a way that really reflected the much more professional management teams that you have across the industry.”

The goal being to significantly increase funding, resources, people, tools and consultants to make the airline industry association among the best inside-the-Beltway trade groups.

Hiring Calio was a big part of that initiative.

“We really need a strong leader in the form of the president of the association to carry out the strategy, implement the strategy, and that’s exactly what Nick is doing for us,” Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said.

Calio is no newcomer to working in an industry under fire. The former head of legislative affairs under both President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush joined the airline trade group after a multi-year stint leading Citigroup’s in-house lobbying operation during the financial downturn.

The newly named A4A is wheels-up on reorganizing and restructuring everything from its internal bylaws to making several personnel changes to outlining a national airline policy initiative. The group is also planning on harnessing its workforce to grow its political contributions. After its PAC fundraising peaked in 2006 raising nearly $120,000, the association has seen dwindling numbers in PAC contributions. This year, the airline association PAC has only taken in $2,000 in receipts, according to FEC records.

The industry group, which has 14 member companies including American Airlines, Southwest and Federal Express, had an operating budget of about $22 million in 2009, according to the most recent publicly available tax filings. Of that, $18 million came from dues. The trade group declined to discuss the increase in funding, saying the 2012 budget still needs board approval.

“Part of what we did in terms of reorganization and restructuring was to create the first ever strategic plan for ATA, where previously there had been none,” Calio said of the multi-pronged effort that included implementing a strategic planning process as well as business plan. “We saw the need to both repair and establish the reputation of ATA.”